Speaker Bercow sparks Brexiteer fury AGAIN as he blocks No Deal amendment

Speaker John Bercow has sparked fresh outrage from Brexiteers by failing to allow MPs to vote tonight on quitting the EU without a deal or escape the controversial backstop unilaterally.

The Speaker refused to allow two indicative vote motions tabled by Essex Tory John Baron to continue, while allowing four that would lead either to a soft or delayed Brexit or no Brexit at all.

One motion by the Basildon and Billericay MP would allow the UK to quit the EU without a deal on April 12 – which was refused as it is already the default option unless Mps agree an alternative .

But the other would give the UK a unilateral right to exit the Northern Irish border backstop by amending the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU.

After Mr Bercow announced his decision Mr Baron asked him to reconsider, saying that while it was a new motion it echoed the so-called Brady Amendment that modified the Withdrawal Agreement and which was passed by 16 vote son January 29.

Mr Baron said: ‘It is a new motion that has previously achieved a majority and I think it worthy for consideration.’

But Mr Bercow rejected this argument, pointing out that it would involve reopening the Withdrawal Agreement, something that even the UK Government has accepted will not happen.

He told furious Brexiteers that the point had been ‘aired repeatedly’, adding: ‘Repeated commitments have been made to seek a reexamination of that point (reopening the WA) by the Union and it has become very clear over a period of months that that reexamination is not offered by the Union.

‘It may or may not feature in the future but in terms of trying to broker progress now I did not think it was the most sensible motion to choose at this time.’

The Commons controller refused to allow two indicative vote motions tabled by Essex Tory John Baron (pictured protesting the ruling) to continue, while allowing four that would lead either to a soft or delayed Brexit or no Brexit at all

Raising a point of order, Tory Greg Hands asked why motion C ‘can be brought back three days later but the 585 page Withdrawal Agreement cannot’.

Speaker John Bercow defended his selection as the ‘right and prudent course’.

He responded: ‘The House has agreed to the process which has unfolded and therefore it is entirely procedurally proper for the judgment that I have made to be made.’

He added: ‘The purpose of this discreet exercise as understood I think by colleagues across the House is to try to identify whether there is a potential consensus among members for an approach to departure from and future relationship with the EU.

‘It is in that spirit and in the knowledge that it is wholly impossible colleagues to satisfy everybody that I have sought conscientiously to discharge my obligations to the House by making a judicious selection.

‘That is what I have done, that I readily defend to the House, that I will continue to proclaim to be the right and prudent course in circumstances which were not of my choosing but with which as chair I am confronted.’